Lord Krebs will speak about 'nudge' tactics at the British Science Festival in Aberdeen on Thursday. Photograph: Food Standards Agency

Lord Krebs, president-elect of the British Science Association, says the government's attempts to use fashionable "nudge" tactics to influence the public's behaviour should not be seen as a replacement for more traditional approaches to changing society for the greater good.

In 2010, the coalition government set up the Behavioural Insights Team, also known as the "nudge unit". Headed by David Halpern, it is exploring the possibility of using behavioural psychology techniques to influence individuals' decisions.

The idea is to change behaviour by altering the way choices are presented to people, as espoused in Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein's book Nudge. For example, instead of sending generic reminder letters to car owners to renew their vehicle licence, a personalised letter that includes an image of the unlicensed car is sent. This results in a 33% increase in the number of people renewing licences.

Speaking at the British Science Festival in Aberdeen, where he will give his presidential address on Thursday on the topic, Krebs accepted that nudge tactics did result in behavioural changes. However, although he is heartened that the nudge unit is setting up randomised control trials to test its approach scientifically, he sees its potential uses as limited.

Asked whether this aspect of behavioural science could help solve society's big problems, Krebs said: "Yes and no. Insights can help us, to some degree but no, they're not the alternative to other approaches. They're not a kind of get out of jail card if the government wants to avoid tougher approaches like taxation and regulation. It's got be to a mixture of things, including regulation and financial incentives."